Would post several more, butabout to leave work before Houston traffic rapes me.
Between corporate sponsorships, naming-rights deals and luxury suites,
two-thirds or more of teams' revenue comes from corporations rather than ordinary fans, estimates David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute. Over the years, luxury boxes, once just a few glass-enclosed rooms high above the regular seats, have become as integral to a new stadium as concession stands -- more so,
because companies pay for them up front, guaranteeing profits regardless of the team's success on the field. As team owners crammed in ever-more premium seats, corporations, eager for new ways to entertain clients, happily bid up the prices.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123630159510147111.html
Another one about Joe Schmoe Yankee fan who can't afford his season tickets anymore.
http://riveraveblues.com/2008/03/a-new-stadium-but-at-what-cost-2356/
Here's an article OTL did in regards to suites being empty because of high prices
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=091005yankeestickets
A quick blurb from it:
This brings me to another question: What took ticket prices so long to skyrocket?</p>
From the beginning, the Yankees and Wall Street were linked. The bull market that ultimately led to mad speculation and the Great Depression started in October 1923, within days of the team winning its first World Series -- in its first season at Yankee Stadium. Old-money New Yorkers followed the Giants. The dreamers took the subway from Wall Street to the Bronx, the games timed to the close of the market.</p>
Lavish spending was always part of the new-money ethos of the Street. Great seats, especially at Yankees games, impressed potential clients. The secondary market for big games grew outrageous, and, as the team won titles throughout the 1990s, smart fans found they could pay for an entire season by auctioning off a choice game or two to bankers hungry to make a deal. Good Yankees-Red Sox tickets could go for as much as $2,500. Maybe, in hindsight, it seems a little greedy to expect a season of baseball for free. But smart fans were just following the law of supply and demand.</p>
What could be more American?</p>
The Yankees made nothing extra off this ticket scalping. Very uncool. So, in 1998, the team created a new front row, called the seats the Legends Boxes, and started charging $197.50 per game. Each year, fans and corporations happily paid the increase, so the prices kept rising.</p>
The Street couldn't afford to say no.</p>
Why not?</p>
If you're a middle-class sports fan, the answer will make you sick.</p>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that I'm not judging the Yankees badly for building this stadium or raising prices. They can do what they want to do. I don't give a **** either way. But what they've done, is priced out you and me. We can't afford to drop $250 every time we go to the stadium. You know that. I go to about 15 Astros game every year... and I never pay more than $20 a trip. If I had to drop even $50 or $100 a trip, I probably wouldn't go unless the Cardinals were playing.
</p>
